3.8. Specific performances of symptomatic plants
Data referred to the period starting before the appearance of the symptoms, highlighted that both plants, identified as symptomatic in the autumn of 2014, had precociously shown values for shoot length, plant status index and apical leaves’ SPAD index lower than the respective averages referred to the healthy plants from the same site (FR). On the contrary, plants that were symptomatic in 2015 showed values for shoot length, trunk diameter and plant status index higher than the rest of the healthy plants from the same site (SY).
No differences on gas exchange rates were recorded between the healthy plants and the plants becoming symptomatic in 2015,while the plants already symptomatic in 2014 showed an early decrease of the net photosynthetic activity, coupled with a lower transpiration and stomatal conductance compared to the healthy